Roadrunner

17 minutes ago, Action Newsroom said:

Wow. She was a really good anchor and reporter where she was, but morning anchor fits her much better. I'll miss her at WPVI, but I wish her a long, happy, successful tenure at WTTG.

This is like a homecoming because she originally left WJLA for WPVI, right? And her husband's also at WJLA right now so they'll be even closer together work-wise, and they'll kind of be like a DC "power couple" (cheesy lol). I'm still side-eyeing WTTG for all of their mess recently but Jeannette is a great hire if this is really happening.

Edit: I also recall FTVLive saying earlier they were going to hire someone to replace Angie Goff's temporary shift in the mornings (as she becomes the new main evening anchorwoman), so Jeannette is likely doing the latter half/7-10AM part of Good Day DC.

Possible replacements for Jeannette's 4PM shift - Sharrie/Alicia/Sarah?

3 hours ago, IceManNYR said:

The last three Fridays, plus this and the last two weekends, Amy Freeze as not been on and Jeff Smith has been subbing for her.

She's still active on social media, but three weekends seems like a long time be off.

Make of these what you will:

X-post with another user's post in the Philadelphia forum:

WPVI's recently-departed Melissa Magee will be joining KNBC effective November 2 and take over the 4 and 6PM shifts, previously occupied by Anthony Yanez. Great news for NBC4!

Melissa joins Anthony Yanez, Belen de Leon, David Biggar, and Shanna Mendiola as the fifth meteorologist on the team.

Nothing really new to add to the Marie news other than:

- Robert Feder says she'll be a reporter (not "anchor/reporter" as mentioned on her agent page); we'll see how she goes and if they'll eventually fit her anywhere into the anchor/reporter lineup.

- Here's her official tweet about her arrival:

- And here's her first story with the team:

Re: Danielle Leigh

She debuted on Friday on an  "ABC 7 Investigates" report about Compton PD, so we can safely assume her resources will be poured into the more "deep-dive" (for a lack of a better term) investigations instead of the consumer side. Nice to have a dedicated reporter for them.

I have no exclusive source for a scoop other than their agent page but WFAA's recently departed Marie Saavedra will be joining WBBM as an anchor/reporter. Expecting a possible switch-up/replacement (....or (shock) a possible expansion!) in the anchor teams at CBS 2. 

Edited to add that the open "anchor/reporter" job listing for the position at WBBM has been closed, so it's safe to assume she is the one they were looking for. If I had to speculate, she'll first be augmenting the weekend team, but I don't know if she'd make more sense joining Jim in the evenings or joining (or even replacing) Suzanne (who's still out on medical) in the mornings. Irika will also be heading towards maternity leave in some time, so this could also affect the existing lineups. 

Edit 2: 

Indisputable confirmation she's onboard CBS 2 -- just waiting to see what shift she'll be headed for

11 minutes ago, CLT-DCA-ORF-PTI said:

Former WTTG Anchor going to WUSA Morning starting 11/9: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10224674913760126&set=a.1129848846291&type=3 

Congrats to Allison! FTVLive had a similar "exclusive" scoop a few days back about her. I don't think anyone can be surprised by this. She joins Tony Perkins and Annie Yu, among others, who've also switched to WUSA from Fox 5. All eyes on Shawn Yancy now with regards to her next move or if she ultimately chooses to move away from television. 

New anchor teams in Raleigh-Durham at WRAL:

https://www.wral.com/wral-news-announces-new-anchor-teams/19343883/ [Click for the list of entire anchor lineup in this link]

EFFECTIVE NOVEMBER 30:

• Lena Tillett (current 4PM anchor) adds 5:30PM and 10PM
• Mikaya Thurmond (current weekend mornings) moves to 7AM and 9AM (and Live Center from 4:30-7AM and 12PM)
  • Just an hour break from 8-9
  • WRAL will hire someone new to fill Mikaya's spot
• Ken Smith (current 9AM anchor) adds 7AM (and Live Center at 8AM)
• Kathryn Brown is leaving WRAL and TV news

- Kathryn Brown departure clip: https://www.wral.com/kathryn-brown-reflects-on-her-time-at-wral/19345748/

- Brief announcement of new anchor teams: https://www.wral.com/wral-news-announces-anchor-team-changes/19345881/

On 10/2/2020 at 6:52 PM, Roadrunner said:

I mentioned this position opening in the WPVI thread because Melissa Magee was leaving to come home to LA (I want to think she is a possible candidate, but it wouldn't make sense for the position to appear just as she's leaving), but I really don't understand why Rick isn't a shoo-in for the position, considering how passionate he is for meteorology and how he's been doing the weekday evenings pretty consistently since Stu came onboard. I get that he might not want it either because of other commitments in his private life, but other than that, nothing suggests he doesn't deserve it. 

Scratch whatever I said here above about Fox 11 not needing five mets, because I clearly didn't pay attention to the fact that they hired the Weather Channel's Liana Brackett, who began in early-September. Her shifts are more sporadic and she's still working with the Weather Channel on the weekends, so I'm not sure if Fox is going to give her a more prominent role. But with the job posting for chief met still up, is there really a need for six mets in the LA area at the station?

1 hour ago, FiveNews said:

I buried the lead here, though! They finally got new music!!!

They also got new graphics, including a new bug and new weather graphics for the program. The new bug is fine and adopts the shape of the "Good Day LA" logo while being translucent instead of the solid aqua blue. The weather graphics could use a lot more customization, though; I mean, Arial in some of the fonts? It seems like it could also be just a slight error, but I'm not convinced, because of the awful standardization across all Fox O&Os with their weather graphics. Looks like it could use a lot more work in finesse, but that's just my hot take. 

In terms of the set, that's also been tweaked, with some more stand-up/full-body shots and we also see the talent being together in one shot at a distance sometimes. Michaela now has her own little desk and I think this is great, because it breaks up the hum-drum of the split-screen format Tony/Araksya were using that was caused by the distancing. The show is also, as mentioned, clearly revolving around her. I'm sure they paid her a pretty penny to come here, so this does make sense and I think it's a good move. Hopefully, she can move the needle and we won't see a "Michaela leaves" headline in three years or so. 

I'll edit this post with more detailed findings if I can remember.

-------------

Interview of Michaela by the LA Times about joining Good Day

2 hours ago, CircleSeven said:

KABC did use the '7 On Your Side' moniker for Consumer reports in the early 2000s. But that was when Ric Romero was their before he retired a few years ago.

Yep, you're right; I should've specified that they currently don't have a team built around the "7 on your side" brand or something of the like. It's been 5 years since they've had the brand so I wonder if they'll keep the name if/when they revive it. I will acknowledge that Phillip and Jovana launched the "ABC7 Solutions" earlier this year but I really feel there's more potential all of that could've been more "cutting-edge." LA could always use additional investigative reporting.

I haven't seen any public announcement of this yet, other than somewhat subtle social media changes, but WABC's 7 On Your Side reporter Danielle Leigh has moved to KABC to become an investigative reporter (link to Facebook page). I'm not sure yet if she's doing consumer business (a la Kristine Lazar or Randy Mac) or more deep-dive investigations (a la David Goldstein or Joel Grover), but I always thought it was a little weird that KABC didn't have its own unique brand of "7 On Your Side" investigations and it seems like they could potentially be working to jumpstart a more thorough investigative operation.

Danielle has strong ties to California and the West Coast, having graduated from USC and worked at KING in Seattle and KCRA in Sacramento, in addition to various prior ventures in SoCal.

Her new bio: https://abc7.com/about/newsteam/danielle-leigh/

As for WABC, we should probably keep our eyes peeled for a potential new hire to fill her old spot.

On 6/25/2020 at 3:57 PM, Roadrunner said:

WJLA, WTTG to Trial 3.0 Advanced Emergency Alerting in D.C. - It's an 8-week trial of ATSC 3.0 emergency capabilities. No start date determined yet. The trial will be held through 4 two-week blocks, with each block progressing in implementation of content.

Sinclair has brought in more reinforcements for their imminent NextGen launch in the DC market

1 hour ago, TheRyan said:

Definitely an overreaction by the station.

Totally agree. Boneheaded move by Sunbeam. I can understand not following a contract's stipulations and maybe other miscellaneous/unwanted liability concerns, but there's nuance to every situation. And Alaina was just recently promoted several months back (if I recall correctly) so she was clearly doing something right for the station. Reactions on social media seem to reinforce this. If she stays in news, I can definitely see her being taken up by another station before year's end.

2 hours ago, Casey Buck said:

I'd argue that the 4 note signature from their early-mid 90's ID counts as a jingle.

You make a good point, though I argue the deprecation of that signature means most have forgotten it or simply never heard of it.

--------------

For a breakdown, Newscast Studio has also published an overview with clips for reference of the new mnemonic and other comparisons.

1 hour ago, TexasTVNews said:

WFAA 8's Marie Saavedra's final newscast was tonight. She's leaving News 8 to accept a job closer to her family.

From what I know, she's from Chicago. It's encouraging to see her continue in news so we should be keeping eyes on what vacancy she'll be filling (...or person she'll be replacing) in or near the Chicago area.

Last week, Adam wrote on an Instagram comment that "[we'll] be seeing much more of [him]" now that Melissa's gone. So just IMO, I think this means that for the time being (or indefinitely), the job will be his. 

To add to the point above: this is about a month old at this point, but I don't recall that Feder mentioned it. Meredith Barack joined the station as a per-diem reporter after leaving WRTV as their morning anchor.

I think there's some potential (despite the fact that the job listing is still listed), but I do think promoting from within actually makes more sense (though I also like the reporters they have on their beats).

17 minutes ago, TheWatcherAtl said:

1. They'll be revealing their new, redesigned news set next week

Oh I definitely did not know this was happening (admittedly not an avid WGCL watcher). There's no thread for the new set on here either. Do you know how big of a change it will be? The last change debuted in 2014. 

It's refreshing (and maybe even a little comforting) to see it finally sourced and published, but as much as I want to have high expectations, there have been quite a few new meh graphics launched as of recent, so I...won't hold my breath for CBS, given how they seem to bungle everything they launch.

Edited for my own takeaways:

Quote

A new five-note musical “mnemonic” will play before many CBS programs, and quietly debuted this past Sunday before “60 Minutes.”

CBS is not synonymous with a notable 'jingle' of sorts (like NBC's chime), so I'm interested to see if this will catch on.

Quote

The days of different fonts and signs for CBS News, CBS Sports and the CBS network are over – the first time the company has created a united design for all its properties. 

Well, we just saw CBS Evening News go through a massive change last year, but this definitely means the current look is being whacked. CBS EN, CBSN, and CBS Sports all have different fonts albeit similar in being "skinny-ish", so I'm kind of wondering how bold (or not) they'll go. 

Quote

CBS Sports will start to incorporate colors associated with the leagues it televises. 

Lol this just reminds me of how KDKA went rogue a few months back.

Quote

And CBS News will rely on black and white  – a means of portraying its product as down the middle and not associated overmuch with red or blue, which have been claimed by the nation’s two biggest political groups.

Quote

Viewers can expect to see the new marks for CBS News in the run-up to the unit’s coverage of the 2020 election

As far as this specific forum is concerned, this is the most relevant development and also the biggest clue about what will change -- definitely going to be really different because CBS EN is blue all over and CBSN is red all over. Interested to see what will come from this beyond what's visible from the debate coverage graphics.

Quote

 Changes are in the works for designs associated with CBS Television Stations and CBS Television Distribution.

Quote

New designs call for the logo to appear in pieces, in some moments and come together in others.

This is the one main component without a stated timeline, so we probably have a lot longer to wait for CBS O&Os (and CBSN Locals, if they're even switching over either). Just IMO but I feel like the "pieces" part (referring to the new design elements for the Eye) might actually take kind of a large role with the O&Os in an effort to make things feel "modern" and "sleek," which we can't really describe for the current deployment of the Eye.

Pulling for CBS here to actually develop something stunning given how major of a network it is, but it's generally lagging so far behind the other two nets so in the end, will graphics really make a difference? Probably only for us newsies.

After a bit of a lull in ATSC 3.0 developments, there was a big launch today on October 7th.

https://tvnewscheck.com/article/top-news/254354/four-austin-stations-roll-out-atsc-3-0/

AUSTIN: 

• Nexstar's KXAN (NBC) and KBVO (MyNetworkTV)
  • Vaughan's KNVA (CW)
• Sinclair's KEYE (CBS)

I guess Tegna and Fox weren't ready for the switch yet.

As for the next markets to watch for imminent launches, TVTechnology reports Denver, Los Angeles, Mobile/Pensacola (as mentioned above), and Oklahoma City.

https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/atsc-30-deployments-where-and-when-will-nextgen-tv-be-available

(ATSC's official map: https://www.atsc.org/nextgen-tv/deployments/)

WGCL's morning anchor Karyn Greer is leaving the morning anchor shift for a management role at the station. She's becoming the 'content and community engagement manager,' involving her more in talent mentorship, story development, etc. Note that she is retaining her noon anchor role and will also lead certain key reports. Replacing her at mornings is Rob Hughes from WCNC. Amid Meredith turmoil, at least the station's smart to keep someone as well-known as Karyn around.

59 minutes ago, jrogo said:

Sadly George already left CNN (though they still have his bio online),  George announced he was leaving CNN on February 29, 2020 and I don't blame him, similar to Isha he said he was dissatisfied with the direction CNN has gone, they were both tired of talking about trump and politics all day, everyday, non-stop while other stories were ignored. 

Lol you can clearly see how much I watch CNN now. Thanks for letting me know. 

Yeah I always felt like the bombardment of coverage would really wear down genuine newsies like Isha if they weren't also political junkies like everyone has become. Newsroom hasn't been hitting the spot in ages and I'm sad about those who've left/are basically trying to escape the hell-hole that is US politics.

15 minutes ago, A3N said:

He came to FOX 11 from KFMB, not KSWB. 

Oops, yes. Thank you for the correction. 

And I agree, chemistry is really necessary; whether or not we see something we like, the BTS chemistry is just as essential. I thought Rita and Dan had some rapport but it's definitely not 15 years worth. At least Nichelle is now with CBS Newspath (well, not really major gangbusters but it's something if she gets promoted) so here's hoping Dan finds his home.

Are we shocked that this is happening? I'd been checking his socials for an imminent announcement of the sort and finally, here it is. The moment they omitted Dan from the press release celebrating Michaela's arrival at Fox was the moment I knew Dan was certainly headed out. And now it's been confirmed. In three years, his time at Fox 11 has certainly seemed very disappointing -- coming from KSWB KFMB probably wanting to retire at Fox 11 as the evening anchorman, but then being quickly demoted to mornings, and now leaving. He mentions a "new adventure on the horizon" but I'm really curious where he could possibly be heading in such a crowded market (of course unless he moves somewhere again). Good for him for choosing to spread positivity in his farewell post, though.

Another DC powerhouse is leaving their post. After 44 years, Bruce Johnson is retiring from WUSA on December 31. Another day, another institution exits. 

I'll be honest, it got me thinking of the recently-departed from WTTG and I'm wondering if they might be asked to fill the void (and thus also increase the # of WTTG --> WUSA moves in recent years).